August 28, 2001
U.S. Says Israeli Killings Are Inflaming Mideast Conflict
By JANE PERLEZ
WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 — The Bush administration said today that Israel's policy of pinpoint killings of Palestinians was inflaming the Middle East conflict and urged the Israelis to alleviate what it called the humiliations of the Palestinian people.
In sterner terms than those used by President Bush just three days ago, the State Department spokesman, Richard L. Boucher, said that "Israel needs to understand that targeted killings of Palestinians don't end the violence but are only inflaming an already volatile situation and making it much harder to restore calm."
Mr. Boucher was referring to Israel's policy of seeking out and killing Palestinian leaders it says have plotted or supervised terrorist acts. Hours before he spoke, Israeli helicopters fired missiles on the offices of the leader of a radical Palestinian faction, Mustafa Zubari, also known by the name Abu Ali Mustafa. The attack killed him and set off protests by thousands of Palestinians; later, Israeli tanks pushed into the Palestinian-ruled town of Beit Jala.
In declaring that such slayings of Palestinians were "only inflaming an already volatile situation and making it harder to restore calm," Mr. Boucher went beyond remarks made Friday by President Bush, who merely called on the Israelis to show restraint.
Mr. Boucher repeated the administration's frequent appeal to the Palestinian Authority to take "sustained and credible steps" to arrest those responsible for terrorism.
But what was perhaps most striking was his strongly worded appeal to Israel to soften its policy toward the Palestinians. "If the situation on the ground is to improve," he said, "then Israel must also take the economic and security steps that are necessary to alleviate the pressure, the hardship and the humiliations of the Palestinian population."
Mr. Boucher did not spell out what action the United States expected to see. During the 11 months of this Palestinian uprising, Palestinian towns and villages have frequently been virtually shut off from one another by Israeli soldiers. The Israelis say those actions help to prevent terrorist attacks.
The State Department spokesman also made an unusual and explicit reference today to 20 American citizens who he said were living in the building where Mr. Zubari was killed, but who were not injured.
"We are deeply troubled by the fact that civilians, including more than 20 American citizens, some of whom were children, were living in the building which was attacked," Mr. Boucher said.
The building housed three Palestinian families whose members have lived extended periods in the United States and also hold American citizenship, residents said.
The Daas family, which lives on the floor under the office that was attacked, moved to Ramallah three years ago from Springfield, Va., near Washington. The windows of the Daas apartment were blown out.
Leila Daas, 10, standing on shards of glass that littered her bedroom, said she had been at the bedroom door with her two-year old sister when "I saw fire from my window and I heard big explosions and a lot of breaking glass."
"I started running and screaming," she said. "I was very frightened."
Leila's father, Abdul Daas, 40, the owner of two restaurant chains in the Washington area and another in the West Bank, said he had returned to Ramallah so his children, born in the United States, would learn Arabic and absorb Palestinian culture. He said he also owned a diner in Anandale, near Washington, whose customers included senators and congressmen.
A senior State Department official said the language about Israel today was not intended to balance the words of Mr. Bush, who said on Friday: "The Israelis will not negotiate under terrorist threat. It's as simple as that."
The official insisted that it was the White House, not the State Department, that came up with the word "humiliation" this morning as a way of describing the effects of Israeli actions on the Palestinians.
The official said the term was intended to refer to the Israeli military's roadblocks as well as to the economic pressure that Israel has applied by making it difficult for Palestinians to travel to jobs, and by buying far less Palestinian goods.
No matter the origins of today's statement on the Middle East, it left the impression that the State Department was trying to walk a fine line, balancing Mr. Bush's remarks, which were more supportive of Israel, and some of the wider concerns of American diplomacy in the region.
The administration toughened its tone toward Israel on the same day that senior administration officials met for more than four hours with a senior Israeli military officers and diplomats for a scheduled session on shared security needs.
The State Department went out of its way to say that the session — which included Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage; Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and the deputy national security adviser, Stephen Hadley — was not timed to coincide with the violence of the last few days.
The discussion centered on Israel's overall security situation in the region and how the United States can cooperate with Israel to "make sure they can face that properly," an official said. Topics at meeting ranged from the threat to Israel from Iran, Israel's relations with Russia and questions about the defunct peace process, the official said. Such sessions were held in the Clinton administration but are now being handled by more senior officials, Israeli and administration officials said.
Whether the administration officials involved today in the "dialogue" raised the question of Israel using American aircraft and helicopters in their attacks against Palestinians remained unclear. Israel used American-made fighter jets on Sunday in bombing raids on Palestinian security headquarters in three locations in the West Bank and Gaza.
Arab governments have consistently protested to the administration that the Israeli use of American- supplied weapons against the Palestinians is a breach of American law.
But a senior State Department official said no legal determination had been made on whether the Israelis were breaking the terms of the act under which Israel receives American weaponry. The act says Israel may use F-16 aircraft and Apache helicopters for "legitimate defensive purposes," the official said.
The administration has declined to say in the last few months whether it has complained to Israel about the use of American weapons in the attacks on Palestinians. "We don't do that in public," one official said, making clear that the administration does not want a public debate on the issue but declining to say whether such concerns were aired in private.
Some Middle East experts have raised the question of how the administration can publicly oppose Israel's policy of "targeted killings" and not oppose the use of American weapons in carrying out those killings.
If the administration decided to make an issue of the use of American jet fighters in the raids against Palestinians, it was not clear that Congress would support the stand, several experts said.
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
